Roald Dahl at Tatton Park – Home Farm

I hate to keep going on about it but the weather really has been amazing in our little corner of the world this last week – it has made such a difference to our holidays and we’ve loved getting out and forgetting about the waterproofs. I didn’t make any great plans this half term but we did want to visit Tatton Park to see the Roald Dahl Tremendous Adventures. We’d only visited Tatton Park a few days earlier for Geronimo Festival but when we woke up to see the sun shining we decided to go again to check out the rest of the attraction.

This year Tatton Park is marking 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl with events throughout the year. We were asked to be ambassadors, to go and see what has been added and to review Roald Dahl’s Tremendous Adventures at Tatton Park. I have to say National Trust properties seem to have really upped their game in the last few years – they were always beautiful but there is so much to do with kids now we’ve always found them to be a great day out for us and our outdoor loving boys.

As usual I took way too many photos so I’m having to split them up: there are three attractions at Tatton Park – the Mansion House, The Gardens and Home Farm. There is also a huge adventure playground and an area called The Stables with restaurants, cafes and shops. We didn’t even make it into the mansion there was so much to see but I’m more than happy to return! If you are a National Trust member you get free entrance into the house and the gardens and half price entry into the farm. Otherwise a family ticket for all three attractions cost £27.00 Everybody has to pay the parking fee of £6 whether you are a National Trust member or not.

We parked up and had our picnic in the area by the car park. We discovered there was a little train to take you down the farm which is a bit of a walk if you have little ones. You have to pay and it was £12 for two adults and three children return – this was like an attraction in itself though as Lucas thought it was the best part of the day. The boys were able to have a play on the playground too while we waited for the next train.

The theme at the farm is Fantastic Mr Fox and we were given a map to show us where the Roald Dahl themed things were. Fantastic Mr Fox is the only Roald Dahl book I’ve read to Lucas so this was the best bit for him. As you walk around you can see a few of the barns are labelled, such as Farmer Boggis Kitchen, and inside they are all set up just like in the books, even down the the drunk rat in Farmer Beans Cider Cellar. I liked the room they’d done out for the Great Feast with Fantastic Mr Fox himself and lots of dressing up clothes for the children. All this is around the farm buildings so you can see the animals as you go round. There were a few talks going on throughout the day where you could get closer to the animals and we saw some of the little chicks from the hatchery and hours-old piglets in the sty.

The best bit for the boys was probably the woodland – there was a big adventure play trail, den building and Mr Fox’s den complete with comedy chickens. All this is out at the back of the farm and some of it we didn’t make it to; there is also another picnic area, a grass maze and a pond. In the summer they open a maize maze and there was a storytelling area which I think they use at weekends. We must have spent a couple of hours in the farm alone, I was surprised how quickly the time went and the boys had a blast.

I’d seen some negative comments on social media about it being busy and crowded although this appears to be only from opening weekend. We honestly did not experience any problems like that at all. We went on a sunny day in school holidays and found we had no problems getting to see things. All the staff went out of their way to play the part and chatted to the children, especially the train driver who was really lovely when Boo was getting upset at handing his ticket over. I was so impressed and was left wondering why we hadn’t been before! There was just so much to do and I can’t wait to get back there and see the house. I’ll write up what we got up to in the gardens in the next few days but here are some of my favourite photos from our time at Home Farm.

We were given free tickets to Tatton Park in exchange for this review. All words and opinions are my own and we enjoyed it so much that I decided to write it up as a few separate reviews.